On behalf of the US, Clinton pledged nearly a billion dollars in aid. But in reality, only a portion of that money will actually go to help the people of Gaza – the US divided their pledge into two parts, giving $300 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza, while pledging twice that amount ($600 million) to support the Palestinian government of Mahmoud Abbas - ignoring the fact that Abbas technically isn’t the Palestinian president any longer (his term of office ended on January 9).
And that underscored the tension at the conference. Even though Hamas is the elected government of the Gaza Strip, they weren’t invited to the donor’s conference, some countries, like the United States want to freeze Hamas out of the rebuilding process because of their stance against Israel. The US position instead is to back the government of “President” Abbas, even though his term in office has ended, he has no plans of holding an election anytime soon, and his Fatah political organization was kicked out of Gaza by Hamas back in 2007. It is pretty doubtful that they could manage the rebuilding of Gaza when they have no presence there.
The Europeans were gently pushing for a unity government in Palestine that would bring together Hamas and Fatah, but neither side is terribly interested in that idea right now. The Gulf States, led by Saudi Arabia, which pledged $1 billion in aid, will sidestep the whole Hamas-Fatah fight over who controls the aid money by opening their own offices in the Gaza Strip and managing the projects funded by their donations themselves.
Meanwhile, the people living in the Gaza Strip say that the pledged aid is nice, but they would prefer to have a cease-fire and open borders. Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, Israel has kept the region in a virtual lockdown, sealing the borders and maintaining a blockade off the coast. Egypt has largely kept their border with Gaza closed as well, meaning supplies can only be brought into the territory when Israel and Egypt feel like opening crossings that they maintain.
The Gazans say that any real reconstruction and rebuilding of their economy will be impossible so long as the border remains sealed, no matter how much money foreign governments dump into the place. Right now the main way of getting supplies into Gaza is through hastily dug tunnels under the Southern Gaza/Egyptian border. The Israelis targeted these tunnels during the Gaza campaign (and continue to occasionally bomb them) since they say they are used for smuggling weapons and rockets into Gaza. And while they are, they are used more often to bring the staples of life (food, clothing, oil, etc) into Gaza, and are one of the few sources of income still available to Palestinians living in the territory, which is plagued by crushing levels of unemployment, thanks to the blockade.
Bringing something like a semblance of a normal existence back to the people of Gaza will take a lot more than just some foreign countries with deep pockets.
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